Lyndoch Living concerns amid pandemic met with silence
Questions around two people from Melbourne entering Lyndoch and a delay in the issuing of masks to all staff have failed to produce a murmur from the Lyndoch board.
Carol Altmann – The Terrier
This past week has seen two extremely serious issues arise at Lyndoch Living aged care in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic and yet the response from the board is a wall of silence.
First, Lyndoch only issued masks to all of its staff yesterday: 12 days after the Federal health minister declared masks mandatory for staff in all aged care homes in Victoria.
Second, Lyndoch allowed two people from Melbourne into its facility last Thursday and Friday, despite that city being in full lockdown and a declaration from the Victorian Chief Health Officer that, as of last Wednesday night, tightened access to aged care homes even further.
I asked the board members – chair and MPower CEO Kerry Nelson, hairdresser and W’bool City Councillor Sue Cassidy, accountant Kane Grant from Sinclair & Wilson, retired academic Rob Wallis, nursing academics Suzanne Coulson and Lorraine Mielnik, agriculturalist Ron Page, WCC manager Andrew Paton and real estate agent Percy Eccles – if they were concerned and if they intended to investigate.
Silence.
Not a single word.
I am not sure who the board represents, but it is clearly not the community.
We have not been given any explanation, or had any response to these concerns, from the CEO, the chair, or the board.
Lyndoch is community owned in theory, but it might as well be owned by Bupa.
Fortunately there are still people who will speak up for us and the most vulnerable people in our community in the face of this devastating pandemic.
South-west Victoria Upper House MP Bev McArthur said by email last night that she was “alarmed” by the allegations around people from Melbourne entering Lyndoch and would be investigating the matter further.
“There is no question that aged care facilities should have bulletproof infection control strategies, and we already have seen the tragic consequences of failures in this area,” she said.
“I will certainly contact the senior management of Lyndoch Living to ask for explanation of this apparent incident, and reassurance that proper controls are in place to protect vulnerable residents and indeed the whole local community.”
Local MP Roma Britnell was less direct. She suggested concerns about any breaches of the restrictions could be forwarded to the police.
As of today, Victoria is moving toward compulsory masks in public and even tighter restrictions on social contact and travel.
In this climate, I cannot understand why any aged care facility would be taking any risks unless it was absolutely unavoidable.
What is Lyndoch’s reasoning for its actions of the past week?
As it sits, we – the broader community – still have no answers to that question.
Covid-19 questions for Lyndoch Living
Carol Altmann – The Terrier
Given Covid-19 is gaining a terrifying grip on aged care homes in Victoria, I sent an email this morning to Lyndoch Living to find out why masks are not yet compulsory for all staff and all visitors.
I also wanted to find out why two professionals from Melbourne were allowed into Lyndoch Living last week, for what appears to have been non-essential, non-medical purposes.
Lyndoch has a ban on visitors who are from or have been in Melbourne.
This is the email:
Dear Lyndoch Media Unit,
I am hoping you can assist with the following questions:
I have had a number of people contact me these past four days in regard to the mask-wearing policy for staff and visitors at Lyndoch Living and why masks are not mandatory.
Can you outline why Lyndoch Living has not yet introduced a compulsory mask wearing policy for all staff given the Federal Government directive on 17 July that all aged care workers across Victoria would be required to do so?
Is one of the issues that there are not enough masks available to provide to all staff?
Also, concerns have been raised with me about two visitors to Lyndoch Living last week who were apparently from Melbourne and who stayed in the Waterfront Living complex.
I understand these same people had access to Swinton Wing, while wearing hard hats, which suggests they were not visiting Lyndoch for medical or aged care service related purposes, but related to the construction works at Swinton Wing.
Those who contacted me were understandably concerned that it appears people travelling from Melbourne were permitted into Lyndoch and Waterfront Living complex for non-essential purposes and in contravention of the current ban on Melbourne visitors.
I am hoping you can clarify the situation to put these concerns to rest.
Regards,
Carol
I will let you know if I get a response.
In the meantime, as I write this, there are 764 active cases of Covid-19 in aged care homes across Victoria.
According to the Prime Minister Scott Morrison, just under one fifth of Victoria’s 430 aged care facilities had been affected by C19.
Given the increase in C19 cases in south-west Victoria, Cobden Health moved in to full lock down eight days ago.
Mercy Place, in Warrnambool, also moved into temporary lockdown this week until at least tomorrow, with no new visitors other than those who already have visitation plans in place.
Moyne Health, Gillin Park, and Opal aged care have made it compulsory for staff to wear masks.
As Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt says in his media release from 17 July above, the government has made another two million masks available to aged care and the disability sector.
As I said above, I will let you know if I get a response.
WRC to WCC: Hi Bruce, can you help us out of a bind?
Former W’bool City Council CEO Bruce Anson and former W’bool Racing Club CEO Peter Downs. (Original images via WCC and Racing.com)
Carol Altmann – The Terrier
It’s fascinating to see the conversations that go on behind the scenes between the powerful, like an exchange between the former CEO of the Warrnambool City Council, Bruce Anson, and the former CEO of the Warrnambool Racing Club, Peter Downs.
It is a brief exchange – and released only through Freedom of Information of course – but it says so much.
It reveals that Mr Downs met with Mr Anson on Thursday 8 February 2018 with a problem.
The problem was that racehorse training along a section of Port Fairy’s East Beach was no longer possible because, wait for it, those pesky Hooded Plovers had turned up and made it “unworkable” for the racehorses.
But Mr Downs had an idea, which he put to Mr Anson in writing after their catch up: what about giving permission for 50 racehorses to use Lady Bay from Monday 12 February, from dawn until 8am?
Under the council rules, racehorse training at Lady Bay did not normally start until 1 March.
There is a very good reason for this, as Mr Downs acknowledges: “We understand that there are other beach users using this area at this season of the year”.
(That season of the year is called summer and funnily enough there are loads of “beach users” who like to use Warrnambool’s main beach in summer.)
Not only did Mr Downs think having 50 racehorses training on Lady Bay in summer was a great idea, he also hoped the council could make it happen with just four days’ turnaround from his meeting with Mr Anson.
How? Well, “a circular resolution via email” to councillors.
Excuse me?
No meeting of councillors? No discussion with the public? Not even a notice in the Saturday newspaper?
Was Mr Downs seriously suggesting the council could change the rules by flicking an email around to councillors for a “yes” or a “no”?
You would expect Mr Anson, as CEO, to have clutched his belly, laughed out loud and spluttered “Don’t be so bloody ridiculous Peter!”
But no.
Mr Anson got straight on to it, to see if it could be done.
Within 24 hours Mr Anson had replied to Mr Downs, having done something that the council should have done when the WRC also wanted to access Levy’s Beach for racehorse training – he checked the council laws.
Lo and behold, it is illegal under local laws to bend the rules around racehorse training at Lady Bay without consulting the public.
Who would have thought? Fancy not being able to change a local law via Snapchat or WhatsApp, how inconvenient.
“Sorry I cannot assist in this instance,” Mr Anson wrote in his reply to Mr Downs via his ipad.
A sunset clause on the whole mess lapsed on 30 November last year, so each councillor will once again have to decide where they stand on the issue which continues to divide the community.
The first council meeting of the year is next Monday…and the election is in October.
Cr Gaston on credit card abuse: “This is a blip. It will pass.”
A leaked email from former mayor Cr Kylie Gaston to her fellow councillors gives a fascinating insight into her thoughts on the WCC credit card scandal. Image: WCC/Twitter.
Carol Altmann – The Terrier
Every now and then something slips out of Warrnambool City Council and we catch a glimpse of what really goes on.
This is when we learn what councillors really think, unplugged and unfiltered – this is one of those times.
The words of one councillor, former mayor Kylie Gaston, recently leaked through the solid wall of control via an email and I must admit that it made my jaw drop.
Cr Gaston didn’t expect these words to escape and she was not happy about it, but the non-confidential email she wrote to her fellow councillors (except Cr Peter Hulin) has crept through a crack and run free.
The email was sent by Cr Gaston the night before the September 2 council meeting at which councillors were still battling the raw flames of the credit card scandal and desperately trying to regain public trust.
Cr Gaston did not like this move at all and she told her fellow councillors as much, while at the same time revealing what she really thought about the whole issue.
Here is her email from 1 September in full:
“Hi everyone,
I am only writing this email to councillors, not including Peter Hulin as he is putting the motion forward.
I will be blunt.
This is a political notice of motion. Who is going to second it? Why second it when it is only going to add to the political fire, no matter what the outcome.
I think we all believe, as Thommo said, this is an iceblock not an iceberg. If the Standard reporters are working this out, why would we fuel the fire?
Let the motion lapse. Let the gallery yell at us. And let’s get on with what we are elected to do without unnecessary cost to ratepayers.
This is a blip. It will pass. We need to focus on our values and keep moving our city forward.
Kylie.
Did a word leap off the page for you? A tiny word that says so much: “blip”.
A blip.
We are talking here about the blatant misuse, abuse and unjustifiable spending of ratepayers’ money by senior council staff and a potential cover-up, all of which is now the subject of three inquiries.
I can’t un-see that word, “blip”, despite Cr Gaston’s explanation, which I have also published in full below.
And then there is this zinger: “let the gallery yell at us”, which is exactly what they did, and some paid the price for it.
Cr Gaston expected a rowdy meeting, but now anyone who shouts at meetings in the future could be fined.
In this email we also learn Cr Gaston looked to the Warrnambool Standard to gauge whether credit card abuse was a problem for the council.
If the sole newspaper wasn’t worried, why should councillors be?
Good grief.
And, lastly, it shows Cr Gaston, who is an experienced councillor, trying to line up councillors like ducks in a row, rather than free-thinking individuals.
So this is how it works when we aren’t watching. How fascinating.
I asked Cr Gaston a number of questions about this email and this is her response in full:
Hi Carol,
I will certainly be interested to see how you frame my response.
I believe the NOM (notice of motion) was political rather than useful and wanted to clarify that with my fellow Councillors and not make it personal with Peter Hulin.
This has certainly been a distressing and unfortunate episode at Council. Personally I am disgusted with the inappropriate use of monies and I believe most people are honest.
We need to learn from it and move on. I did not intend the word blip to imply something small but rather in the history of Council this is an unfortunate episode which we need to deal with responsibly and I believe we had already put appropriate actions in place.
At the time of the Council meeting the Ombudsman was involved and two weeks prior, Council had called a Special Meeting to appoint an external and independent auditor. The scope will certainly include a review of our corporate governance and how we arrived at this point.
As it stands, the Minister is waiting the outcome of the Ombudsman report, so in fact the Notice of Motion achieved no more than what is already happening.
There is not much more to it than that.
Kind regards,
Kylie
I ran this response past Barry the Bullshite Detector. He gave it a 9/10, saying it contained more spin than a whirling dervish dance party.
Last Thursday, I asked Cr Gaston a follow-up question on why she was so confident this whole issue was an “iceblock”, after all, the official inquiries had only just begun.
Her answer arrived a few hours ago:
“In my view, the subject of further investigation had been dealt with at the special meeting and the (motion) was not going to add value.
What it was going to achieve was keeping the issue burning (so to speak) in the public domain when we had already dealt with it.
Bringing in the minister was only going to be political and, as it eventuated, the minister did indeed say it was already being investigated.
At this point I’ll wait to see if there is any further information of which we are unaware.
I don’t believe corruption is systemic at WCC and through transparent external investigation we will review our policies to ensure this does not happen again.
There are always some people who will try exploit systems for their own gain, I detest this, however, I believe most people are honest and our staff are hard working and trying to do the right thing.”
Nobody has ever suggested corruption is systemic at the WCC, but boy, wouldn’t you want to turn over all the rocks to see what might crawl out?
That is how to restore public confidence, bit by bit, and without a “blip” in sight.
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Carol Altmann – The Terrier
